Soft breaks on dp

it just doesn't feel right

Not familiar with your coach, but the brochure shows it to be on a ROADMASTER chassis (Monaco in-house chassis), not Workhorse.

I saw no mention of brakes, but did not read that closely.

Are your brakes air drum? Hydraulic?

Guess they could be called breaks, because they are surely broken!

Sir,
Just for your information here, it's BRAKES not BREAKS. And, this issue may or may not be a real problem. You see, you're using AIR for the brake application, not hydraulic fluid. I'm pretty sure you know that but, just reminding you of it. Air, IS compressable but, HYDRAULIC FLUID is not. So, when hydraulic brakes are adjusted correctly and, there is no air in the system, you will have a fairly HARD pedal when the brakes are applied.

But, since you're dealing with an air system, and by virtue of how the entire system works, you are compressing air, to make things work, in the brake assemblies. You don't say how many miles you presently have on your coach or, if this is a somewhat recent issue or, have you thought that this was an issue since purchase?

And, upon extra hard application, is your coach stopping in a somewhat normal distance, based on speed at the beginning of the application?

As for "easy way of adjustment", well, adjusting air brakes on a diesel pusher is not for the un-informed. It's not a hard job, but, is somewhat technical. After all, you're messing with BRAKES here so, the job must be done correctly and by someone who's educated in the field.

And, about 99.999% of the D/P coaches out there are equipped with what's called "Slack Adjusters". Those are attached to each brake can, close to each set of brakes. They are mechanisms that are designed to see the total movement in each brake assembly and, upon fairly hard brake applications, will automatically adjust any abnormal slack in the system, to eliminate it so that brake shoes, travel the absolute minimum distance to the drums and or, pads to discs. Hope this has helped some.
Scott

bumpus4 wrote:
I have a 2013 holiday rambler ambassador that gives me what I consider "soft breaks". In other words it takes maximum foot pressure when coming off the Interstate or up to a red light to stop the unit. It just don't feel right when stopping. I have to plan my stops well in advance to safely stop the rig.

This is my first dp so don't know if this is normal or not. My previous experience was with two class a's. One a '08 Chevy Seneca with the Chevy diesel and with the standard chassis and the other a '13 Freightliner DS3 with the Cummins diesel. They both gave better performance when I needed the breaks.

I do not mean to say I have bad breaks just poor breaking when coming to a stop. This is a air break system.




I think they are referes to as Brakes


Is there any EASY way to adjust the breaks or is this something that needs to be done in the shop? Or is this just normal for air breaks?

This is a workhorse chassis with the max force engine.

They are called Brakes

From what I have read, my first thought is that your brakes may be "glazed" from frequent low pressure brake application. I have heard that several repeats of hard braking might de-glaze them. Not that I am NOT a mechanic--not even close, though I do have an Air Brake endorsement on my DL (which is mandatory for operating a vehicle with air brakes in British Columbia.) I am going by what I have read in other threads.

If no one more knowledgeable than I responds, you should ask at a truck shop.

I'm pretty sure that a 2013 vehicle would have automatic slack adjusters. To try to reset them, drive forwards then in reverse several times braking hard each time. See if that makes a difference.

GM has long been known for poor BRAKES. Sounds like your in need of a serious upgrade. But first you need to do a thorough inspection of the BRAKING system for any signs of worn or damaged parts.